Kelly.Jordan@jacksonville.com--080913--Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley stands during the National Anthem as the Jacksonville Jaguars take on the Miami Dolphins in their first pre-season game of the 2013 season at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida Friday night August 9, 2013.(The Florida Times-Union, Kelly Jordan)-Kelly Jordan

Kelly.Jordan@jacksonville.com--080913--Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley claps his hands as he walks the sidelines just before kick-off as the Jacksonville Jaguars take on the Miami Dolphins in their first pre-season game of the 2013 season at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida Friday night August 9, 2013.(The Florida Times-Union, Kelly Jordan)-Kelly Jordan

Gus Bradley is running the room. Again. He’s exuding energy and enthusiasm usually reserved for men half his age. Again.

On the fourth floor of EverBank Field, far away from practice and strategy sessions and 14 hours after his workday started Aug. 2, Bradley, 47, was still at his finest, visiting with his two daughters, posing for pictures with giddy children who were a part of a charity giveaway, while talking to a furniture company executive.

Watching from 50 feet away was Michaela Bradley, Gus’ wife of 15 years. They have four children.

“This is my life,” she says before displaying her own infectious laugh.

What a life, and what a journey.

Since being introduced as the fifth coach in Jaguars history on Jan. 17, Bradley is attempting to captivate the city and franchise by being the same guy who wowed owner Shad Khan and general manager Dave Caldwell during a one-day interview.

Bradley has pumped up season-ticket holders, taken the stage at pep rallies, filmed a television commercial and signed countless autographs.

Inside the team, he has created a culture and presented a plan he hopes takes the Jaguars out of the NFL abyss following an embarrassing 2-14 season.

The Jaguars haven’t made the playoffs since 2007, and even worse, have lacked buzz and identity.

Bradley has embraced the task just seven years after leaving the comfort zone of mid-level college football and completing a rise up the NFL ladder that is both stunning (because of his background) and predictable (because of his work in Tampa Bay and Seattle).

“He is uniquely gifted,” says North Dakota State coach Craig Bohl, who had Bradley on his staff for three years. “The only other person I’ve met in 30 years of coaching that’s in the same realm of Gus is (former Nebraska coach) Tom Osborne, whose best attribute was his ability to relate to other people and bring out the best in them. Without question, Gus is second to none.”

Zumbrota to Fargo

Casey “Gus’’ Bradley grew up in Zumbrota, Minn., (population was then 2,200), located an hour south of Minneapolis along Highway 52.

Gus was the youngest of Roy and Gloria Bradley’s six kids. All were involved in sports and Gus played football, basketball and baseball.

The Bradley work ethic was instilled by example. Gloria did the financials and lab work at a veterinarian clinic and Roy worked two jobs. From 6 a.m.-12:30 p.m., he would prepare the prescriptions at the same clinic where Gloria worked; from 1:30-10:30 p.m., he was a Minnesota State Patrol officer.

To catch Gus’ football games during his shift, Roy would pull his cruiser to just outside the stadium or listen to the radio while on duty.

Bradley’s favorite sport was basketball, but football became a viable option when he picked up punting in grade school.

Bradley walked on at North Dakota State and was redshirted in 1984. He would get a scholarship by the end of his first year, punt for four years and start at safety for two. During those five seasons, the Bison won three national championships, including a dominating 1986 season when they went 13-0 and outscored opponents 539-87.

“I was solid … I mean, just enough,” Bradley says. “It was important to me, and I tried to learn the game and I knew I had a role.”

Rocky Hager was Bradley’s third and final head coach at NDSU and would later give him his start in the profession.

“If he was on the field, he knew exactly where the other 10 players needed to be and if he wasn’t on the field, he knew where all 11 players were supposed to be and how it all fit together,” Hager says.

Following his father’s practical advice, Bradley earned a bachelor’s degree in business. But what he wanted to do was remain in coaching, and got his wish when Hager offered him a graduate assistant position and the encouragement that “I think you would have a career in coaching.”

But since the coaching position paid only $200 a month plus tuition, Bradley needed to get creative to make ends meet.

To kick-start his coaching career, he took class loads of 21, 19 and 21 credits to earn a physical education degree, which he needed to be a graduate assistant. To cover the cost of arthroscopic surgery on both knees (he was off his parents’ health insurance), Bradley got a job at UPS loading and unloading trucks from 10 p.m-2 a.m.

After earning his second degree, Bradley went to work on a master’s in athletic administration — if coaching didn’t work out, he wanted to be an athletic director.

It worked out.

Humble beginnings

Bradley was entrenched at North Dakota State, but there was one problem: The Bison didn’t have a full-time job for him. He had offers from Fort Lewis College, a Division II school in Durango, Colo., and Valley City State, an NAIA school in North Dakota.

Bradley’s first position coach as a player at NDSU, Kevin Donnalley, was the Fort Lewis coach and wanted him as defensive coordinator. The call from Donnalley came with a warning — the program was on the cusp of folding due to a lack of funds.

Bradley’s first defense allowed 50.6 points per game and the Skyhawks went 1-9. By his fourth year, the record improved to 4-6 and the defense allowed 28.1 points per game.

The program survived, but money was so tight that the Skyhawks traveled by bus for every road game, including an 800-mile trip to Montana Tech.

“Guys were sitting on the floor, which was all sticky with Mountain Dew, and we would stop and eat at a gas station,” Bradley remembers. “In the back of the bus, we had a generator so we could have a TV up front and watch the film and grade it on the way back. The exhaust would get into the bus so we would have to pull over so everybody could get some air.”

Of course, Bradley says of his time with Fort Lewis: “An unbelievable experience. I loved it.”

After the 1995 season, boosters asked Bradley to be head coach. Part of the agreement was that for the first few years, he was locked into Fort Lewis and could only leave for North Dakota State.

He lasted three months before NDSU called.

Bradley resigned — he was replaced by Todd Wash, currently the Jaguars defensive line coach — and headed back to Fargo to become the NDSU linebackers coach.

Passed over

To summarize Bradley’s second stint with North Dakota State, which lasted 10 years: Worked for three head coaches. … Met his wife, who is also an NDSU graduate. … Had five years when his defense allowed fewer than 18 points per game. … Upon Bob Babich’s departure to the NFL in 2003, interviewed for the head coaching position, and not only didn’t get it, lost his coordinator title. … Was exposed to and learned the Tampa Two defense of Monte Kiffin.

If there was a tipping point in Bradley’s march to Jacksonville, it occurred after the 2002 season.

North Dakota State athletic director Gene Taylor narrowed his nationwide head-coaching search to three finalists: Bradley, who was serving as interim coach; former Kansas coach Terry Allen; and Bohl, the former Nebraska defensive coordinator.

Allen pulled out, leaving Bohl and Bradley as the finalists.

Bradley says Taylor told him one afternoon he was going to be offered the job but it wouldn’t be announced for another five hours.

“I … was … fired … up,” Bradley says.

But when 5 p.m. came, Taylor told Bradley that Bohl had been hired, citing Bohl’s experience at the Division I level.

“Probably one of the most difficult decisions I’ve had to make,” Taylor says. “When he walked out the door after I told him, I was hurt because I felt I crushed a really, really good guy. I wasn’t sure if he would stay and I wouldn’t have blamed him.”

Says current NDSU offensive coordinator Brent Vigen, a close friend of Bradley’s: “That was a big blow for Gus. He was thinking, ‘Should I stay? Should I go? Should I put my feelings aside?’ Without a lot of hesitation, he did and he stayed.”

Bohl wanted to keep Bradley on the staff but as linebackers coach, not defensive coordinator. After several days of meetings, Bradley agreed to stay.

Bradley remembers telling himself and friends: “Well, there must be something else in the plan.”

Was there ever.

Answering the call

Bohl’s first defensive coordinator at North Dakota State was Jimmy Burrow, who played for Monte Kiffin at Nebraska. Burrow installed the Tampa Two defense. During defensive staff meetings, Burrow would occasionally call Kiffin and put him on speaker phone.

“I never talked; I just listened,” Bradley says.

Promoted back to coordinator in 2005 when Burrow left for Ohio University, Bradley’s defense allowed 13.5 points per game and he was content with his situation.

But then Kiffin called … and called … and called. At first, it was about one of Bradley’s assistants, defensive backs coach Willie Mack Garza. But after about a dozen phone conversations — all short quiz sessions about defensive football, Kiffin asked Bradley about the Buccaneers’ defensive quality control job.

The phone conversations progressed to a Friday night. Bradley was in charge of the kids because Michaela was in Jamaica; Gus was flying there the next day. Amid the chaos, Kiffin called Bradley and asked him a coverage question.

Bradley answered: “Tan Zero Tan.”

Kiffin: “Tan Zero Tan? What are you talking about?”

Bradley: “Yeah, yeah, yeah, Tan Zero Tan.”

Kiffin: “It’s not Tan Zero Tan! It’s Stack B Zero Tan! You know what, I have to get going.”

Click.

“It was over!” says Bradley, standing for emphasis while re-enacting the phone call. “I talked to the guy 17 times and that was the only question I got wrong!”

Bradley was wrong. He hadn’t blown it.

A few days later, the Bradleys flew back from Jamaica. When Gus turned on his phone at the Memphis airport, he saw Kiffin had called several times. Before Bradley could call Kiffin, Bohl reached Bradley and told him the Buccaneers were flying him to Tampa the next day.

Jon Gruden called and offered Bradley the quality control job. The Bradleys took the leap into the uncertain world of pro football.

Rapid rise

Once he reached the NFL, Bradley spent three years with Tampa Bay, including 2007-08 as linebackers coach.

Bradley was hired as Seattle’s defensive coordinator by Jim Mora Jr. in January 2009.

Mora was fired after just one year, but Pete Carroll quickly decided to keep Bradley on the staff.

When Bradley became an NFL coordinator, those closest to him saw his prime skills on display. Instead of working with a small group of players, he talked to half the team and Carroll often had him speak to the entire roster. In the 2011-12 seasons combined, the Seahawks allowed only 17.5 points per game, third-fewest in the NFL.

Before the Seahawks’ first-round playoff game at Washington, three teams — San Diego, Philadelphia and Cleveland — wanted to interview Bradley at the team hotel. He declined, wanting to focus on the game.

The next weekend, before the game at Atlanta, the Eagles called again. Carroll and Seattle general manager John Schneider told Bradley he had to talk to Philadelphia.

Jan. 13: The Seahawks lost to Atlanta in the final minute.

Jan. 15: Bradley flew to Philadelphia. After a full interview at the home of owner Jeffrey Lurie, the Eagles asked him to stay over. That night, the Jaguars told Bradley’s agent they were sending a plane for him.

Jan. 16: With no offer from the Eagles, Bradley flew to Jacksonville and met with general manager Dave Caldwell at 9:20 a.m. Seven hours later, Bradley turned on his phone and saw several missed calls from Lurie. The Eagles had hired Oregon coach Chip Kelly.